The French Navy has quietly moved its flagship, the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, into the Atlantic Ocean for a months-long war game meant to test how France and its allies would fight — and sustain — a large, modern war on Europe’s doorstep.
France’s flagship heads west for a high-stakes drill
On 5 February 2026, the French Navy confirmed that the Charles de Gaulle carrier strike group had left the Mediterranean and repositioned in the Atlantic as part of ORION 26, the country’s largest joint and allied high-intensity exercise.
The move follows the group’s departure from its home port of Toulon on 27 January. After a first phase of training in the Mediterranean, the force is now folded into a national-level operational maneuver stretching across French territory, its airspace, surrounding seas, cyberspace, and even space assets.
ORION 26 is designed to rehearse how France would lead and sustain a multinational coalition in a major conventional conflict on European soil.
The Atlantic is central to that scenario, serving as the main arena for naval, air, and amphibious operations, plus the protection of reinforcement routes from North America and other European partners.
Inside ORION 26: a made-up war with very real echoes
ORION 26 is built around a fictional story that feels uncomfortably familiar to European security planners.
In the scenario, an expansionist state called Mercure tries to dominate its neighbour Arnland and block its path towards joining the European Union. Throughout 2025, Mercure is depicted using hybrid tactics: online information pressure, political intimidation, and support for armed militias operating inside Arnland.
The situation then escalates into open war.
On 6 January 2026, at Arnland’s request, France takes political and military lead of a coalition that steps in to defend the smaller state’s sovereignty. This decision triggers the military phases of ORION 26, which are designed to move through several rungs of conflict:
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- Sub-threshold friction and hybrid actions
- Escalation and deterrence failure
- High-intensity conventional warfare
French and allied forces must operate on land, at sea, in the air, in cyberspace, and in space — all at once. Civilian elements are part of the script too, including pressure on critical infrastructure, public services, and national resilience.
The exercise deliberately mirrors current patterns in Eastern Europe, without naming any real country, to keep planning both realistic and politically manageable.
Scale of the exercise: a rehearsal for a NATO-level fight
ORION 26 runs from 8 February until 30 April 2026. Twenty-four countries are taking part, fielding around 10,000 personnel across multiple regions of France and its maritime approaches.
Forces committed on land, at sea and in the air
The order of battle underlines that this is not a routine drill:
- 1 carrier strike group centred on Charles de Gaulle
- 2 amphibious helicopter carriers
- 25 major surface combatants
- 50 fixed-wing combat aircraft
- 1 army corps-level headquarters commanding 3 combined-arms brigades
- Around 2,150 tactical vehicles
- 40 helicopters and roughly 1,200 combat and specialist drones
- 2 medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) drones
- 6 ground-based air defence systems
- 20 space sensors linked into the SparteX 2026 space command network
Cyber operations thread through the entire exercise, tying simulated and real-world incidents to battlefield outcomes. French cyber units practise both defending networks and conducting controlled offensive or influence actions.
Four interconnected phases of ORION 26
| Phase | Main focus |
|---|---|
| O.1 | Operational planning and translation of political goals into a joint campaign under French command |
| O.2 | Coalition deployment and entry into a contested theatre, including early high-intensity engagements |
| O.3 | Interministerial wargame on home-front resilience, civil protection, and continuity of state functions |
| O.4 | Integration of French forces into a NATO command structure and rehearsal of alliance-level decision-making |
The design stresses duration rather than quick, stand-alone drills. Commanders must keep logistics flowing, regenerate combat power, and coordinate large formations continuously over several weeks.
French headquarters are placed in a role similar to a NATO joint force command, testing their ability to run a coalition fight under real pressure.
The Charles de Gaulle strike group’s Atlantic mission
Within this framework, the Charles de Gaulle carrier strike group is a central piece of the maritime puzzle. Its tasks during ORION 26 include air defence of the fleet, anti-submarine warfare, long-range strikes and air support to land forces.
Before swinging into the Atlantic, the group completed a demanding series of drills in the Mediterranean. These included:
- Air defence exercises with French Air and Space Force jets and French Navy aircraft
- Anti-submarine and surface warfare training against simulated threats
- A replenishment at sea with Italian destroyer Andrea Doria
- A cross-deck helicopter evolution, with an Italian SH-90 landing on the French carrier
Such events are less glamorous than combat footage but vital for sharpening procedures, radio discipline, and the human side of interoperability between navies.
What ships and aircraft form the group?
The French Navy has not released the full composition, but units reported as sailing from Toulon on 27 January include:
- Aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle
- Air-defence frigate Alsace
- Horizon-class destroyer Chevalier Paul
- Italian destroyer Andrea Doria
- Replenishment ship Jacques Chevallier
- A nuclear-powered attack submarine (escort, not named)
The package balances air defence, anti-submarine coverage and logistics support. On board, the carrier is operating around 20 Rafale Marine fighter jets, which handle air policing, escort missions and precision strikes within the exercise storyline.
For many NATO planners, Charles de Gaulle is a rare European asset: a CATOBAR carrier able to launch heavy, fully armed jets with catapults.
Charles de Gaulle: technical backbone of French power projection
Commissioned in 2001, the Charles de Gaulle remains France’s only nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.
Key characteristics include:
- Full-load displacement: roughly 42,500 tonnes
- Length: 261.5 metres
- Flight deck beam: 64.4 metres
- Draught at full load: about 9.5 metres
- Propulsion: two K15 pressurised-water nuclear reactors driving two shafts
- Maximum speed: around 27 knots
- Air group capacity: up to 40 aircraft (Rafale Marine, E-2C Hawkeye and helicopters)
The ship uses a CATOBAR system — catapult assisted take-off but arrested recovery — with two 75‑metre steam catapults and arresting wires. This allows launches of fully loaded fighters and early warning aircraft, which is still rare among non-US navies.
Defensive systems include Aster 15 surface-to-air missiles, Mistral short-range missiles from Sadral launchers, Narwhal 20mm remote guns and an electronic warfare suite integrated into the SENIT 8 combat management system. The crew and air wing can total about 2,000 people.
Operationally, the carrier has already seen combat deployments over Afghanistan, Libya, Iraq and Syria, giving French commanders real-world experience in coordinating complex air campaigns from the sea.
Why ORION 26 matters for NATO and European defence
ORION 26 is not a NATO-branded exercise, yet its architecture is clearly built with the alliance in mind. By putting French staffs in the hot seat of coalition leadership, Paris is signalling that it can provide a genuine operational backbone in a crisis.
The drill also stress-tests practical issues that rarely make headlines: ammunition stocks, maintenance rhythms, fuel supply at sea, and the political frictions of shared command. Those are the weak points that can decide whether a coalition campaign holds or falters after the first few weeks.
For allies watching from London, Washington or Warsaw, ORION 26 is a live laboratory for how a European-led response to a serious crisis might actually function.
Key terms and ideas behind the exercise
Several phrases linked to ORION 26 are worth unpacking:
- High-intensity warfare: fighting against a capable state opponent with modern air defences, electronic warfare, long-range missiles and large ground forces. Casualties, ammunition use and equipment wear are far higher than in counterinsurgency operations.
- Hybrid actions: methods that sit between peace and open war, such as cyberattacks on infrastructure, disinformation campaigns, covert support to militias or targeted economic pressure.
- Multi-domain operations: coordinated action across land, sea, air, cyber and space, where events in one domain (like a cyberattack) can shape outcomes in another (such as air defence effectiveness).
Simulating these aspects in a realistic way pushes armed forces to break habits formed in more limited operations. For example, air crews must assume their communications could be jammed, their GPS signals spoofed, or their bases targeted by long-range missiles.
Exercises on this scale carry risks as well: higher cost, significant strain on equipment, and the chance that observers or rivals misread military signalling. Yet they also give political leaders a clearer view of what their forces can actually deliver if deterrence fails — and where reinvestment or reinforcements from allies would be needed.